The Company of Fifers and Drummers Executive Committee held a special meeting on Saturday, June 18 to review the results of the 2016 Membership Survey and to begin the process of developing a draft strategic plan that will act as a North Star to guide Company decision-making for the next five years. This special meeting was run as a workshop to explore new ways of looking at old problems, and to ensure that feedback from the fife and drum community was heavily weighted in that process.
Scott Mitchell was invited to facilitate this workshop, which was held at the Company Hall with online video conferencing to enable Executive Committee Members from Michigan and California to fully participate.
The Committee members had homework to review the 2016 Company of Fifers and Drummers Survey Results prior to the workshop and to draw up a list of problems that they felt to be the most pressing. The workshop brought out a series of strategies to address the most pressing issues. Not surprisingly, there was widespread agreement on the issues, however the development of solutions (and a timeline for those solutions) will take a little longer.
What was accomplished…
- Agreement on the key focus areas
- Communication
- Individual Member Engagement
- Supporting Member Corps
- Preserving the Fife and Drum Tradition
- HQ Use
- Museum and Archive strategies
- Improving Membership
- Financial Stability
- Feedback was grouped into common themes
- Strategies and solutions were suggested for each of the themes
What our next steps are…
- Consolidate workshop feedback and validate with the Executive Committee
- Determine which strategies have the most merit, and where should we focus our limited resources
- Develop a Roadmap / Time Line
- Assign Ownership, Target Dates
- Validate approach with Company body
Some sub-committees will begin immediately or continue on work already in-progress where clearly aligned with the direction. The current goal is to have a draft approach available for comment shortly after DRAM. The Executive Committee will evaluate how to best gather feedback from the Company body.